Sicario Monkey Dressed in Bulletproof Vest Dies in Narco Shootout

At least ten suspected criminals in Texcaltitlan were gunned down while ten others were arrested by police. According to the state Attorney General’s Office (FGJ), a “heavily armed group” attacked security officers during an operation 60 miles southwest of Mexico City.

Officers from the FGJ’s office and the National Guard gunned down alleged members of Mexico’s La Familia Michoacana cartel while in pursuit of the cartel leader. Officers responded with “legitimate force,” the FGJ said, when the heavily armed cartel members attacked them on the Toluca-Texcaltitlan highway.

One unexpected casualty was a pet monkey dressed in a bulletproof vest and a camouflaged jacket. The monkey was found dead with his arms wrapped around his 20-something-year-old owner who also died during the shootout.

The images of the “hitman” monkey circulated online, with many members of the public believing the photos to be fake—but they’re real, police have confirmed. The monkey was most likely trafficked by the drug gang, considering it’s classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The spider monkey was also wearing a diaper.

The monkey’s body will receive a necropsy (an autopsy for animals) by vets from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics of the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico.

Mexican animal rights group Animal Lawyers explained that gang members will often abuse or mistreat exotic pets, while security analyst David Saucedo adds that although Mexican law allows for the ownership of exotic pets under certain conditions, gang members will often take it a step too far, keeping tigers or monkeys as a symbol of status and power in an attempt to emulate the Colombian drug lords of the late 20th century.

“Mexican drug traffickers copied from the narcos of the Medellin cartel the custom of acquiring exotic animals and setting up private zoos,” said Saucedo. “According to the code of the drug trafficking aristocracy, having a private zoo was a prerequisite for being part of the circle of big-time drug traffickers.”

“Some drug cartel capos, like Zetas leader Heriberto Lazcano, acquired exotic animals to torture or disappear their victims,” he added. “Several of his enemies were devoured by the tigers or the crocodiles that the Zetas kept in their pens or cages.”

Three of the ten criminals who were detained are receiving medical care after sustaining injuries during the gunfight. Another died from injuries later at the hospital. Of those who were detained. at least three are women and one is a child who is less than 15 years old.